Improvement in war-rockets



UNITED STATES' 'PATENT OFFICE.

`-IIMSllLl. AND RUFUS \VAPLES, 0l" SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENTHIN WAR-ROCKETS.

Specification ibrlning part of .Letters Patent No. 37.940, dated an b 17, 1.71222.

To fall whom, tm/ay concern.-

Be it known that l, lAsfAL PLANT, of the city ot`\Vasl1ington, in the District of Columbia, have invented anewand useful improved rocket-torpedo to be driven and directed through the air or through the water for the purposes of destroying the vessels and the armies of an enemy, removing sand bars,piles, rocks, stationary torpedoes, and similar obstructions from rivers and other bodies of water, defending ships, forts, harbors, &c., and for all other purposes for which rocket-torpe does have heretoforebeen designed. The following is a full, clear, andexact description of the same, reference being had to the accompa- A nying drawings, making Ia part of this specification, in which* Figure 1 shows a section through orinterior ofthe rocket-torpedo. section of the same.v

My improvement consists in pressing the rocket composition around a cylindrical poufder-magazine and conveying the gas through thefannular space between the rocket compo Asition and the outer 'case to the front, Where I the case A A A there isaspace, D D D, so-that when the rocket composition is lighted it burnsall around over its whole surface at once,

and the burning gas passes through the openings a a a a, into the chamber F, which chamber forms the interior ofthe cup or cap-piece G.

' A part of the burning gas Will also be forced through the holes or openings bbto the chamber H,Which forms the interior of the cup or cap-piece I. One or more cap-pieces may be placed in front of these, arrangedl in the same manner. The burning gas finds its only Way of escape from the cups through the circular open spaces o o o o. Through these circular open spaces it is fo reed out a ga i ust the water or the air, (through whichever medium the rocket torpedo may be passing) and thus propels the missile. `The course ofthe llame through these open spaces o o o o f orms an acute angle with theline of the projectile. of the flame will be thatof a funnel orthelower part of a conc. A series of cups or sleeves, like the cap-pieces G and I, may be made to encircle the case A A A, extending its whole length-,so as to distribute the propelling-power; or a series of holes may be made all over the case A A A, so inclined as to cause the dame to burn in the direction gi ven by the cap-pieces, to attain the same object. XVhen the rocket composition B B shall have burned through to the case C C, the little tubesc c ccwill conduct the Haine (by means of the'powder with which they are packed) to 'the powder-magazine L,

which it will ignite, thus causing the explosion ofthe magazine. Should the missile strike any hard substance before the rocket composition shall have been consumed, the punch I will be forced against a primer, and thus ignite the powder-magazine L, effecting the purpose of the invention, as in the other case. To render the explosion the more effective, a larger number of small rocket-torpedoes may be placed inside of the case C C to be lighted and sent in every direction by the explosion of thepowder-magazine L. This may be found useful when the -missile is directed through the air to be thrown into the army of an enemy.

The cup or cap-piece I forms,with the point of the projectile, al perfect cone, and as it isless in diameter at the base of the cone than the body of the torpedo, and as the burning gas is emitted from its base, displacing the air or water, (as the case may be,) much of the head-re sistance is avoided. By making additional cap-pieces of this form, extending farther toward the front point, almost all the head-resistance may be avoided. The cap-pieces are firmly screwed upon the front part of the case A A A.

About midway the length of the case A AA a series of holes, c c c c c c, may be made, to allow gas to escape in the direction indicated by the drawings, for the purpose of giving the rocket-torpedo a rotary mot-ion. Thls purpose may be accomplished, however, by inserting Of course, the form such form as to give the escaping tlame a spiral The rockcttoipcde mavbeinade i nltheform Q v l 37,940

pieces into the mouths of thccups G and 'Lof l of a cone, the front point being the apex and the extreme rear the base of the cone.

To prevent the rocket-torpedo l'rom movin g forward before the gais of the rocket composition has accumulated 'its full force asa propelling-power, the vents 0 o o o may be plugged with sutticient firmness to hold the gas in the chambers F and ll until the force becomes so great as to displace the plugs and to act against the air or water, thus propelling the proiectile.

vl am aware that rockets have been made with shells or powder-magazines attached; that they have vbeen made to rotate; that they have been held back when first ignited to await the accumulation ofthe propelling-gas in a manner different from that j ust describedthat is, by means otsprings attached to the stand from which the rockets are discharged, allot' which I disclaim.

'liat I claim as my inventionfand desirelo secure by Letters latent, is

1. The pressing of the rocket composition around the ease ofthe powder-magazine, forming a cylinder of less circumference than the interior of the outer case, that the gas may pass through Ythe anunl ar spaceto the holesinfront,V Y

and thence pass to the cap-pieces.

2. One or more conical cap-pieces of less dlameter than the body ot' the projectile, tekgive. direction to the gas from the burning composition, constructed and operating substantially as and for the purposes described.

' f ILXSCAL PLANT.

\\'itnesses:

Jem.v Mmes, J'. M. VAN ltsmmv. 

